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Original poster

Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses

20 replies

kitnkaboodle · 02/12/2016 00:36

Does anyone have any experience of these? My son, Y8, has been put forward by his school for these. At a local university, it's going to involve 6 Saturday mornings next year ... he isn't exactly full of enthusiasm Blush. I don't think I would be at his age, either.

Can anyone sell them to me/him? He's got a great ability in maths - last year got Silver/Distinction in the UKMT Junior Olympiad - but, alas, doesn't have a great passion for the subject. Just seems able to do it easily. Would be more interested in computer programming-type applications of Maths - which I suspect might be part of this series of talks.

... but to give up six Saturday mornings to go to Maths lectures .... Confused

PS gonna post this in 'gifted and talented' too

OP posts:
GHGN · 02/12/2016 05:39

The lectures vary from years to years. Last years, some of them were about Mechanics, a bit of Physics dressed up as the Maths of super heroes I think. Some problem solving sessions. If the child likes Maths then it will be really interesting. I send 3 every year and have always received positive feedback from them but we normally send year 9 students. It has certainly made one of my best students realise that she should do Maths rather than Computer Science and she is going to her interview at Trinity College in two weeks time. I do recommend it but if he does not like it, he won't miss out much. There are always other opportunities for G&T kids, especially in STEM subjects.

Peaceandl0ve · 02/12/2016 07:41

My son did these last year, except they were run by the society for further maths, still at a uni and over six saturdays. He was of similar mind to your son but he really enjoyed the., and the problem solving helped with the maths olympiad. His performance in the national school tests, we are in Wales was also better.
When he arrived and saw some of his rugby team mates there he felt much better too.
The rule in our house is that it is ok to try something and decide you dont like it, not so ok to decide you dont if you havent. I hope your son goes and enjoys, my son said it was not like maths in school.

MoreThanUs · 02/12/2016 07:44

Try and encourage him to be open-minded any try (most!) things at least once. I think at Y8, he shouldn't be deciding against maths yet.

User543212345 · 02/12/2016 07:50

I did these about 25 years ago. I still remember the lecture on gyroscopes and boomerangs (a boomerang is a gyroscope and also an aeroplane Grin ). They were really interesting though quite nerdy and the children didn't really socialise with one another, just work on the problems, but I suspect it might be different these days with social media etc? It really was a great experience that I remember fondly though didn't apply in the slightest in my degree/career/later life.

Original poster
kitnkaboodle · 02/12/2016 08:53

Thanks for these. I'd never heard of it before

I agree that it's no good deciding against something if you haven't tried it. The problem is that the letter says you have to commit to all 6 sessions, though I doubt they could actually enforce that if he hated the first couple. It would be a shame to have him drop out, though, when someone else might have enjoyed having his place.

I think the way to go might be to try to convince him of maths' wider application, even if at the moment the thought of studying pure maths doesn't appeal to him. I think he would be daft to throw away this opportunity, but at the end of the day I'm not going to drag him kicking and screaming.

OP posts:
GeorgeTheThird · 02/12/2016 08:56

My son enjoyed them, but he does really like maths as well as being good at it. If yours won't go, do tell the course in time for them to give the place to another student, it would be awful to waste a place.

Witchend · 02/12/2016 09:07

Dd1 did them. She loved them.
Dd2 can't do them as she does orchestra, but would have enjoyed them if she could have done them.

RoseValleyRambles · 02/12/2016 09:12

I did then a few decades ago, and they were amazing! Was good at maths, but it was by no means my overriding passion. Still loved it.

traviata · 02/12/2016 11:09

Please could you tell me when the nominations are made? Our local network offers the masterclasses in the autumn term, so how far ahead would a school be thinking about this?

noblegiraffe · 02/12/2016 12:30

If he's not interested, don't make him go, it'll just make things difficult for the people running the courses. They're for kids who are enthusiastic about maths and want to do more.

GlowWine · 02/12/2016 12:53

My DD did these, and really enjoyed them, but she's keen on maths. They had a number of outside speakers with 'real world' examples of applied maths (if that is the right expression), she still raves about the session on encryption. But I would not send you DS if he's not keen. Maybe you can get a programme from the organisers to show him exactly what is on offer?

Original poster
kitnkaboodle · 02/12/2016 13:38

traviata - the course is in Feb/March next year and we have to reply by Monday.

Glow - good idea to try to get more info from the organisers. We only got the flipping letter yesterday, so hardly any time to decide

OP posts:
Peaceandl0ve · 02/12/2016 13:47

I agree, and disagree with the dont send him camp. If he is really against it and would be disruptive then no, dont make him go. However, if he is simply unenthusiastic then he should try it.
The OP knows her child, i pushed my DS to go and he is pleased that I did. My DD could have gone a few years earlier but there was simply no point pushing so she did not go. It rather depends on how compliant the child is really.

traviata · 02/12/2016 23:12

thanks kit

Pythonesque · 04/12/2016 17:58

If he is that good at mathematics, but doesn't think he likes it much, then it seems to me that these sessions might be exactly what he needs to explore what interesting mathematics can be about. I remember getting deadly bored with maths in year 9 -10 myself; finally got picked up for enrichment work and remember describing it as if I'd been taken through the clouds into the sunshine above them. (I wasn't in the UK btw)

The same sort of brain does well at computer programming as mathematical problem solving, and more of either is likely to help. My vote would be get him to try it.

impostersyndrome · 04/12/2016 21:34

I'd just add into the mix that a strong knowledge of maths will be very useful if he goes on to study computer science.

Cagliostro · 04/12/2016 21:43

Aww this has made me all nostalgic! I went to these, must've been about 2000ish. Absolutely loved it. Actually only just got rid of all my notes and handouts etc from the classes the other day.

I'm tutoring maths now, as well as home educating my DCs, and I really think the classes gave me a lot of inspiration to look beyond arithmetic into all the other amazing things you can do with maths.

Particularly fond memories of the codebreaking session - it's stayed with me since, and I'm running my own one for home ed kids next year :o

Cagliostro · 04/12/2016 21:44

All the above waffle was meant to say - I'd really, really strongly encourage him to go. It's not a massive commitment though, 6 weeks, in the grand scheme of things.

Sillymummy81 · 04/12/2016 21:52

Wow- this brings back memories. I did these mid 90's. I didn't want to do them. I loved maths but didn't want to be seen as a 'geek'. The other children there were what I'd have called geeky (and all seemed far more intelligent than me) but in the end I didn't hate them and did find them interesting in parts (and actually made a couple of friends), and it's Something to put on a cv etc when applying for uni, first jobs as something a bit different. I'm now a chartered accountant so my love of maths has remained!. I wish I could do them again now and take a bit more notice and appreciate the opportunity a bit more!

grumpysquash3 · 07/12/2016 17:30

My DD did these in year 8. There were only 4 places for her school so it was great to be included. She liked them well enough but wasn't enthralled by them (and it was a PITA getting into the city centre for 9am on a Saturday).

I don't think she would do them again if something similar came along. Ironically my DS would have loved it and he is far better at maths, but there was another student in his class who is better and who got the place.

If your DS isn't that keen, he probably won't get much out of it.

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